Louis Chevrolet Died Nearly Penniless

Swiss-born American race car driver and engineer Louis Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in Detroit in 1911 but sold his stake after clashing with businessman William C. Durant. Later automobile and aircraft ventures failed, one Frontenac operation entered bankruptcy, and the Great Depression wiped out Chevrolet's remaining fortune. Nearly penniless, he returned to Detroit in the 1930s and worked for a period as a mechanic at a Chevrolet plant. Poor health forced him into retirement before he died in 1941, aged 62.

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